


It's The Great Pumpkin, Jo Harvelle

by Amethyste5



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-01
Updated: 2007-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-15 17:55:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/163367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amethyste5/pseuds/Amethyste5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for SPN_Halloween Prompt: 20. On Halloween, Jo finds herself in over her head tackling a field of evil pumpkins. </p><p>Young Jo decides to go on her first solo hunt on Halloween night. </p>
            </blockquote>





	It's The Great Pumpkin, Jo Harvelle

 

Halloween as a hunter’s kid was an odd experience, like being an actor’s kid at the movies, Jo supposed.Seeing what was below the surface took some of the mystery and magic out of it, but it also added a layer of understanding and prompted her to watch for the hows and whys.Take Jack O’ Lanterns for instance, she would never put a goofy grin on hers, or paint it instead of carving it, only a truly terrifying visage with candle light glowing through would do the job.Costumes were another issue; nothing even vaguely accurate for her, Mom didn’t want to risk a drunken hunter trying to take her out if her werewolf act was a little too convincing.Still, candy was a universal desire for all kids, and listening to the other kids talk about local legends might come in handy when she followed in her father’s footsteps some day.

“My brother says the Great Pumpkin really does show up in the First Baptist pumpkin patch at moonrise every Halloween.”

“My mom said that’s just a Charlie Brown special, Bobby,” Susie retorted, hands on hips. “And your brother also said Mrs. Green was a vampire.”

“She _is_ allergic to sunlight,” Tyler pointed out.“Besides, my cousin Jake said so too, and he said the Great Pumpkin doesn’t bring gifts like the tv show.He comes to carve up a little kid in revenge for carving all those pumpkins every year.”

“He does not!” Susie seemed to be getting a little hysterical.

“If you don’t believe us, why don’t you spend the night out there and prove it?” Bobby retorted.

“You just want me out of the way so you can get all the good candy. Well it won’t work.” Susie turned and flounced off.

Jo headed back to the swings, thinking things over.A single pumpkin couldn’t be too bad.Her daddy would do something about it if it really was hurting kids, but he was gone on a hunt right now.

 

“Joanna Beth, if you don’t hold still I’ll never get these whisker off!”Ellen was beginning to regret using eyeliner to draw whiskers on her daughter’s cheeks, putting it on had been easy; getting it back off was another matter.“If you squirm one more time there will be cold cream in your eye, and trust me that is not a pleasant feeling.”

“Mom, can’t I please have just one more piece before bed?I’ll pick something small, really.”The nine year old practically vibrated as she begged.She’d obviously had way too much sugar already.

“No.You are going to brush your teeth and go straight to bed, I am going to take care of the bar, and I am takingyour candy with me so don’t even think about sneaking out of bed to get more.”Halloween was always a busy time for the Roadhouse. Hunters tended to stay in if they weren’t on a hunt they had staked out in advance.There were simply too many people out there dressed as what they hunted, too high a chance of taking out an innocent by mistake.Not to mention the thinning of the veil.Most hunters had lost someone, or sent someone to Death, and they had no interest in being visited by those who had gone on ahead.

With Bill out of town on a hunt, Ellen was handling the bar alone, which meant an early bedtime for Jo and a long night for her.

“There, all done. Sweet dreams sweetheart,” Ellen kissed her daughter on the forehead.“I’ve laid the salt lines already, holy water is in the bottle on the nightstand, and your knife is under your pillow.If you need me, just holler.”

“I know, love you Mom.”

“Love you too baby.” Ellen closed the door gently and headed off to a long night’s work.

 

Jo waited five minutes, then ten, and finally at fifteen minutes she decided it was safe to get back up.She slipped on the black leotard from her cat costume, her jeans, and her socks.She decided to wait until she was outside to put on her tennis shoes, just in case.She quietly slipped the holy water and her knife into her coat pockets, adding the flashlight from under her bed, then crept to the door.She put on her coat and shoes, listening tensely for any sign that her mom might be coming back to check up on her.

She wished she could take her bike, it was a long walk to the pumpkin patch, but she knew the noise would give her away, and the reflectors would make her way too easy to spot.The last thing she needed was one of her honorary uncles spotting her on the road and taking her straight back to Mom.

Living out in the country the way they did had accustomed her to the dark, but tonight seemed even darker than normal.She felt jittery, startling at every sound.That was good she told herself, it meant she was alert, ready for anything.It did not mean she was scared, not even a little.Really.

‘Finally,’ she thought with relief.The irregular humps of the pumpkin patch rose up out of the darkness in front of her.She wondered which one of the orange balls would be the Great Pumpkin.It had to be an ugly one she reasoned, otherwise how could it be here every year instead of taken home by someone to carve?She finally settled on a likely candidate.It was mottled orange and brown, tall and skinny, and the bottom looked as if it had been folded over.

“You are definitely the ugliest pumpkin I have ever seen.” Jo stated, trying to ignore the slight quiver in her voice.She pulled up a bale of hay and settled in to wait for the moon.

Moonrise was taking forever.Jo stifled another yawn and wondered how hunters usually stayed awake on long stakeouts.“Coffee, probably,” she decided.“Too bad Mom won’t let me have anything with caffeine.I bet a Coke would really help right now.”

Just as she started to nod again, the first hint of moonlight crept across the patch.Jo sat up, blinking furiously and trying to clear her head.This was it, this was her chance.

But what if Susie was right?What if there was no Great Pumpkin?Well, if there wasn’t then she’d sneak back home, pick the hay out of her clothes and try not to act too sleepy in the morning.

The moonlight struck the ugly pumpkin, making it almost seem to shift before her eyes.She focused harder, it was shifting, and shaking, and stretching.It grew upward, changing as it grew, the folded bit at the bottom suddenly looked like feet, the rough brown patches began to resemble rough brown clothes, and then the face appeared.

None of Jo’s Jack O’ Lanterns had ever sported a grimace this fierce, no candle had ever glowed so red, and no pumpkin had ever moved as if muscles lay beneath its ridged skin.She stumbled backwards off her hay bale to her feet in shock.

Jo clutched the bottle of holy water in her pocket with a suddenly sweaty palm.She pulled it out, flipped the lid off with her thumb and flung the water into the gaping maw in front of her.The fire went out, smoke pouring out of the pumpkin’s head as it crashed to the ground.Jo stared at the shattered remains of the Great Pumpkin in awe.

“I did it?I did it!”She went from incredulous to exultant. Her first hunt, and she had done it!It was almost too easy.‘Too easy,’ whispered a voice in the back of her mind.It sounded a lot like one of her uncles telling about a hunt, a hunt gone wrong.

That was her first hint that something was wrong.The next clue was when all the pumpkins in the patch shivered and began to stretch upward.

“No.” Jo whispered.This could not be happening!It was the Great Pumpkin, not the Great Pumpkins.There was only one.She had only come prepared for one.What was she going to do now?

She still had her knife; maybe she could carve her way out of here.She clutched the handle of her little knife in her hand.The Pumpkin monsters turned toward her, the glowing red of their eyes seemed to focus on her.She suddenly thought of all the pumpkins she had happily carved open, scooping out the goop and laughing as she cut glaring eyes and angry mouths.

She started backing towards the edge of the field, hoping they couldn’t move very quickly.She felt heat on the back of her neck, and spun.There was one directly behind her.

Jo Slashed desperately at the ‘legs’ of the creature.Her knife left white marks across the tough skin but made no impact on the monster.It roared silently, flames dancing in its eyes, vine arms reaching for her.

Jo fell backwards screaming.A blast came out of nowhere and the monster’s head exploded.

She heard a shotgun cock and another blast; one more pumpkin creature fell headless.

“Joanna Beth Harvelle, when we get home you are in so much trouble.”

“Mom?” Jo turned over trying to spot her mother.

“Stay down.” Ellen barked.“Crawl over here by me.”

Jo kept her head down and moved slowly toward her mother’s voice on hands and knees.Straw stabbed at her hands and pebbles dug into her knees as the shotgun continued to blast away above her.

“Ok honey, you put your arms around my waist and stay right behind me.”Ellen reached back and patted Jo on the back without taking her eyes off the orange creatures advancing on them.Slowly, carefully, Ellen and Jo backed out of the pumpkin patch, firing at the closest monsters.Finally they were out of the patch and on the road.The pumpkin monsters stopped short at the edge of the patch.

“Aren’t they going to come after us?” Jo asked, not even trying to hide her fear.

“They can’t, the perimeter of the patch is warded, as long as no one goes in there on Halloween night there’s no threat.”Ellen looked down at her daughter.“Come on, we’ll talk once I have you safely back at the Roadhouse.”

  


 

 

Jo was wrapped in a quilt perched on a bar stool recounting her night to her mother and a crowd of interested hunters.

“I thought it was only one, I killed him with holy water, but then,” Jo thought of the angry pumpkins gathered at the fence line, flaming eyes glaring at her and shivered.

“Holy water huh? That was good thinking girl.”A gruff voice commented.

“Don’t encourage her,” Ellen snapped, but there seemed to be something like pride on her face.“I think you’ve had quite enough excitement for one night, young lady.Caleb, will you watch the bar for me while I take our little hunter back to her bed?”

Caleb nodded and winked at Jo when her mother’s back was turned.Jo grinned, then quickly covered it as her mom turned her attention back to her daughter.

Jo hopped down off her stool and followed her mom out the door.

“Are you really mad at me Mom?I was just trying to do what Dad would do,” Jo’s voice started to quiver again so she stopped.

“Oh honey,” Ellen turned and swept her up in her arms.She was getting a little too tall for that, her legs almost trailing the ground.“I’m more scared than mad.I don’t even wanna think about you getting hurt, you and your daddy are my world.”

Jo was startled to see tears in her mother’s eyes.Her mom never cried, she was tough and strong. Nothing scared her mom.Ellen carried her to her bad and tucked her in.

“Mommy,” Jo said sleepily.

“Yes Jo honey?”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok baby, go to sleep.”

 


End file.
